New 2020 Rivals250 released: Analysts discuss decisions

The new Rivals250 for the 2020 class has been released and as is the case with any new ranking, it arrives with plenty of debate and discussion. Here, the Rivals.com analysts discuss the toughest decisions of the latest version of the Rivals250.

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CLASS OF 2019 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250

Rob Cassidy (Southeast/Florida): After seeing Kelee Ringo at the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge, there was no doubt in my mind he was a five-star. Often, the burden of proof is higher for players in the state of Arizona, as they don’t play the same level of competition as prospects from California or Texas, but Ringo is a rare blend of size and speed that would translate to even the country’s toughest leagues.

Mike Farrell (National): I wasn’t alone, not by a longshot, but I helped push offensive lineman Justin Rogers to five-star status. I think his potential versatility along the line of scrimmage makes him very valuable at the next level as he can play tackle or guard and he seems like a can’t-miss kid to me barring injury.

Adam Friedman (Mid-Atlantic): I covered this in Rival Views, but I really thought Notre Dame quarterback commit Drew Pyne should have been ranked higher than Bryce Young in the Rivals100. Even though Young has, statistically, had a more successful high school, his fundamentals aren’t nearly as strong as Pyne’s. Both will face a similar mental learning curve at the next level but Pyne won’t have as far to go when it comes to developing his mechanics.

Adam Gorney (National/West): There was some heated discussion about four-star quarterback Bryce Young and where to place him in the position rankings especially after some believed he didn’t perform all that well at the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge presented by adidas this summer. But I’ve seen more of Young than anybody and he had a great offseason and then in Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei’s game against Las Vegas Bishop Gorman he was spectacular. I do understand there are some concerns about his height especially as we project him to college football and beyond, but Young is a gamer, an awesome playmaker and a true dual-threat standout.

Josh Helmholdt (Midwest): I loved what I saw from Myles Murphy at the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge. He's not a finished product, yet he was consistently winning reps against older and more polished offensive linemen. When he polishes up the finer points of his game, he will already have the size, skill set and mentality to fulfill his potential as a five-star prospect.

Nick Krueger (Texas): There weren’t too many contentious discussions about this player or that not getting their due in the rankings, but the most significant move from Texas that I suggested was the bump of Seth McGowan into the top 20 and ahead of Jase McClellan, who had been in a pretty tight race with Zachary Evans for top running back in the state. All three guys are supremely talented running backs, but McGowan rivals Evans physically and is getting more impressive as a pass-catcher. He may ultimately move to all-purpose back, where he would be the top prospect at that position in the country, but regardless, he’s been the guy that I have been most impressed with over the offseason in addition to Evans.

Chad Simmons (Southeast): Eric Reed Jr. is a prospect I learned about over the summer and once I watched tape on him, he quickly moved up my board. He is not known too much yet, and he is a new four-star prospect with three offers, but that doesn’t reflect his talent. Kentucky, LSU and Virginia have pulled the trigger, but as more schools see him, he will add offers. I really like his size, quickness, ball skills and playmaking ability.

Woody Wommack (Southeast): Outside of my push for Justin Flowe to have the No. 1 overall spot, which I lost in convincing fashion, I would say I championed the cause of Bryson Eason making a big jump up the rankings. I love Eason's game film and having seen him play in person, I have little doubt about his future potential at this point in the process and think he only stands to keep getting better as time moves along. I was helped in my case by Adam Friedman, who saw Eason on the 7-on-7 circuit and hopefully the rest of the analyst team will get their chance to see him up close in the coming months.

Rob Cassidy (Southeast/Florida): I really don’t have a major beef this year … yet. I haven’t seen enough players outside of my region at this juncture. Give me time. By this time next year, I’ll be up in arms about something. Promise.

Mike Farrell (National): I’m not sold on Bryce Young at quarterback as much as others are. Yes he’s creative and can drive you crazy, but I worry about his size at the college level and especially beyond. He’s one of the smallest quarterbacks we’ve ever had ranked so high.

Adam Friedman (Mid-Atlantic): Defensive tackle Lamar Goods is very impressive on film but this will be his first season playing in the U.S. Last year Good played in Canada and hasn’t faced the solid competition on a week-to-week basis. Slotting him at No. 158 is a risk but he will have his chance to prove himself this season.

Adam Gorney (National/West): Leonard Manuel remains the top-rated receiver in the 2020 class and he’s No. 14 nationally but I do wonder if we have him ranked too high. I saw him at the adidas National Championships over the spring and he’s undoubtedly one of the best-looking receivers in the last few recruiting classes but he didn’t dominate as I expected. He dropped a couple passes and had his opportunities to completely take over and it just wasn’t there. I still think Manuel is a special prospect and he has the physical tools to be great but I’ve yet to see a kid who takes over events like typical No. 1 recruits have done.

Josh Helmholdt (Midwest): I've seen many of the prospects Alabama has offered and taken early commitments from in the past. What I have seen of wide receiver commit Dazalin Worsham thus far seems out of place with those other prospects. Especially his performance at the Nashville Rivals 3 Stripe Camp left me scratching my head about what the Crimson Tide saw there.

Nick Krueger (Texas): Marc Britt is a guy that most of the analysts were pretty high on during the ranking meetings, and I haven’t seen much of him besides the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge presented by adidas, but based on that event, I didn’t have the same kind of enthusiasm. He didn’t win the majority of his one-on-one reps against defensive backs and even though he has a lot of the attributes strong receivers do, so do a lot of others in the Rivals250 that I’ve seen perform better at other events. I am always the first to throw out disclaimers on my level of exposure to guys, but I would have expected more from Britt based on everyone else’s enthusiasm for him.

Chad Simmons (Southeast): Alabama commit Dazalin Worsham is a talented wide receiver, but with his ranking being just outside the Rivals100, he may be too high. He is a prospect we saw live at the Rivals 3-Stripe Camp presented by adidas in Nashville. We liked him, but he wasn’t the top wideout there. He is quick, but is he limited to the slot position on the next level. We will have our eyes on him this fall.

Woody Wommack (Southeast): I remain skeptical of several players in the Rivals250 and that's probably because we are ranking guys before they have even played a down of their junior years. I know he has impressive film and the industry pretty much agrees on him, but I would like to see more of Bryan Bresee before we anoint him as the next great defensive end. Several of the players in the Top 10 I've had a chance to see in person at various events but to me, Bresee is a virtual unknown outside of his HUDL. I'm sure that will change as things move along but at this point in the process I'm a skeptic.

Rob Cassidy (Southeast/Florida): I don’t really have a major problem with where anyone is ranked, but if it was the Rob250, I might have Justin Flowe No. 1 overall. He’s looked like the most can’t-miss prospect in the class thus far.

Mike Farrell (National): I think Paris Johnson Jr. is a five-star. Ranked No. 18 in the country isn’t shabby at all, but he’s eventually going to get that fifth star and I felt now was the time to do it. Either way, he will continue to improve and earn it down the line.

Adam Friedman (Mid-Atlantic): Rivals250 linebacker Osman Savage might get overlooked sometimes because he plays on a stacked defense at Baltimore (Md.) St. Frances with a number of other highly rated prospects but he is an excellent prospect in his own right. He has great speed, flies around the field making a ton of tackles, and a lot of room on his lean frame to fill out. Savage does need to show a bit more patience and discipline on the field but those are easily correctable.

Adam Gorney (National/West): Darnell Washington is not low in the rankings by any stretch checking in at No. 36 and making a nice move up since the latest release but we still might have the Las Vegas Desert Pines tight end a tad on the low side. He could be that special. Washington is a legitimate 6-foot-7 and 255 pounds, he looks like an Adonis in person and he has the athleticism and ball skills of an elite basketball player on the football field. There have only been eight five-star tight ends in the Rivals.com era dating back to 2002 but Washington could be in the discussion.

Josh Helmholdt (Midwest): Washington, D.C. offensive lineman Anton Harrison competed really well against older prospects at the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge in June. He gets a small bump up in the Rivals250, but he's proven more to me than a lot of guys ranked ahead of him.

Nick Krueger (Texas): Collin Sullivan only moved up one spot in the most recent rankings update, but I still think that he’s trending toward becoming the most well-rounded wide receiver in his class out of Texas. I think a real comparison could be made to 2019 five-star and No. 2 player in the country, Theo Wease, in the sense that they both have very similar styles of play. Sullivan is sneaky big and continuing to fill out, he runs with power and has good long speed down the sideline. He doesn’t have some of the same kind of boisterous qualities that other more well-known receivers do, but the best pass-catchers from Texas all sort of fit that bill – and all are extremely talented. Although he doesn’t draw a ton of attention, Sullivan is going to go down as one of the best receivers from this class.

Chad Simmons (Southeast): Robby Ashford is a hard one to move too much on just yet. He is on the back-end of the Rivals250 and he may be much higher once all is said and done. He missed the spring with a shoulder injury and this is his first year as a starter at Hoover (Ala.), so he will be a dual-threat quarterback on a big stage this fall. He has great size, he can run, he has a big arm and he plays for one of the top high school programs in the country. Auburn, Florida, Georgia and some others have offered and he will have a chance to ascend the rankings in the coming months.

Woody Wommack (Southeast): It might end up being a player from my own region, South Carolina quarterback commit Luke Doty. I've been rather conservative with his ranking and that's because I've been waiting to see how he handles the full-time role of quarterback starter this fall. If all goes well and he puts but big numbers and does what he's capable of, he should be in line for a bump down the road.

Rob Cassidy (Southeast/Florida): All of them? I’m not a giant fan of ranking players before they start their junior seasons, but I’ll go with wide receiver Aydin Henningham for now. He busted on to the scene as an unsung prospect with no offers early this offseason and looked incredible at the two events, but the sample size on him remains small. We could have him mis-ranked. Only time will tell, but putting him in the Rivals100 is certainly a risk that could go either way.

Mike Farrell (National): Hudson Card is tough because the Texas commitment hasn’t played a whole lot of quarterback. Yes we know he can throw the ball, but until we see him under center a lot he’s a tough evaluation.

Adam Friedman (Mid-Atlantic): There was a lot of discussion about the order of the top three prospects. D.J. Uiagalelei, Zachary Evans, and Justin Flowe were not easy to rank but we ultimately decided Uiagalelei, is the right player to be at the top of the rankings right now. The hardest part was seeing Flowe move down one spot after an outstanding performance at the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge presented by adidas.

Adam Gorney (National/West): One of our most difficult discussions continues to be whether five-star Bryan Bresee or five-star Sav’ell Smalls should be ranked higher at defensive end. Bresee is a fantastic physical force who has outstanding film and is also impressive in person. He could be one of those next big-time Big Ten defensive ends who have a great college career and then move to the NFL. Smalls is more of a hybrid outside linebacker/defensive end with an incredible motor, an incredible work ethic and is being courted by Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and all the elite teams across the country. Until we see more of both of them in person, the jury will be out.

Josh Helmholdt (Midwest): I'm starting to get worried West Bloomfield, Mich., four-star safety Makari Paige is going to outgrow the position. He's already being listed at 6-foot-4 in some places, but his frame looks narrow and I am just not sure how to measure his future physical growth potential yet. This is a kid we will likely struggle to get a handle on until he is fully grown and filled out.

Nick Krueger (Texas): The fall is going to be big for me to sort out what’s next for some of my top guys. Lorando Johnson was a big mover in the rankings from Texas and while he’s really good, I wonder if he’ll play up to where he ended up ranked this fall. The quarterback position is going to be interesting to see shake out and what ends up happening with Hudson Card and Malik Hornsby this season. Some think Hornsby could end up being the best quarterback prospect in the nation and I’ll be watching him very closely this fall.

Chad Simmons (Southeast): Dillon Johnson is a prospect in Greenville (Miss.) that I hope to see live this fall. He is a talented athlete on film that shines on both sides of the ball, but he is not one that gets out, the competition level doesn’t look too strong, so there are still some questions. He looks good at running back, he is a big-time defender and what looks to be clear is his playmaking ability between the lines. Is he the No. 2 prospect in Mississippi? Should he be closer to the top 100? His ranking is strictly off tape, so I want to see more.

Woody Wommack (Southeast): This could easily be Doty or Bresee as well and we have a lot of guys that are tough to rank just because it's so early and we know there are going to be a ton of changes as the cycle moves along. One guy we all have our eyes on is Avante Williams. At the start of his high school career he looked like he might be a no-brainer five-star, but since then we haven't had a chance to see much of him. Hopefully that changes and if he develops like we expect. He could be a guy that shoots up the rankings later.